"Heasman, David" <[log in to unmask]> ponders with us thusly:

>  Isn't the Christian God supposed to have redeemed the world from original
> (and subsequent) sin by
>  assuming human form and taking on the total burden of human suffering? I
> mean, isn't that the absolute
>  centre of Christian faith?
>
>  How does "natural selection" do any of that? The concepts are orthogonal,
> surely?

Remember the context of this discussion:  Intelligent design theory.  It is
the opinion of the author of the web page I cited that natural selection
performs all the functions of an intelligent designer, which was formerly
known as God, Christian or otherwise.  In other words, he is saying that we
have merely swapped one definition of God for another when we propose
natural selection as the the Designer.

>  I'm assuming that "Paley & theologians" are nominally Christian; lots of
> other religions
>  are even further removed from this. Lord Vishnu doesn't do any of the
> above, nor claims to.

You are correct, but I wasn't speaking of any religion in particular.
However, Paley is:

"William Paley who was the Church of England's most influential theologian.
Paley was required reading at Cambridge and Darwin had to pass examinations
on what were thought to be Paley's most important books, Evidences of
Christianity and Moral and Political Philosophy."

In general, theologians have always pondered how we got here and why we are
here.  These are questions that evolution tries to answer as well.

Jim Phillips                           Information Systems Manager
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